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Fire Ravages Bread Love Cafe in Bed-Stuy After Two Days of Break-Ins

By  Paul DeBenedetto and Aidan Gardiner | May 14, 2014 11:15am 

 Bread Love, a Bed-Stuy bakery and outdoor cafe in the stable house of the 375 Stuyvesant Ave. Mansion, caught fire on May 14, 2014.
Bread Love, a Bed-Stuy bakery and outdoor cafe in the stable house of the 375 Stuyvesant Ave. Mansion, caught fire on May 14, 2014.
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DNAinfo/Paul DeBenedetto

BEDFORD-STUYVESANT — A Bed-Stuy cafe was ravaged by fire early Wednesday morning after two days of break-ins, sources and officials said.

The fire started inside Bread Love, a cafe and bakery in the stable house of the 375 Stuyvesant Ave. Mansion, around 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, destroying the cafe, according to the FDNY and building sources.

The fire then moved on to part of the building's second floor, according to the FDNY.

About 60 firefighters responded to the blaze, which was finally brought under control around 4:20 a.m. One firefighter suffered a minor injury and was treated on the scene, the FDNY said.

FDNY officials have not yet ruled whether the fire was suspicious, but Bread Love was previously the target of break-ins on both Sunday and Monday, according to Mark Winston Griffith, executive director of the Brooklyn Movement Center, a nonprofit with an office inside the mansion.

While the stable house was badly damaged, much of the mansion's interior was left intact, save for some broken windows and water damage from the firefighting effort, Griffith said.

Building-owner Barry Shepherd and his three children were home sleeping when the fire started, but escaped without injury, Griffith said.

"There was no loss of life, the building didn't go down," Griffith said. "It could have been a lot worse."

Attempts to reach representatives from Bread Love were not immediately successful, but the cafe posted to its Facebook wall around 7 a.m. on Wednesday.

"Thanks for your support Bedstuy," the post read.